Ole Miss Falls Behind Early, Fails To Recover In Loss To UCF

The Rebels were in a massive hole in the first half before fighting back to make the game respectable.

OXFORD, Miss. -- After seven minutes of play on Wednesday night, the Ole Miss Rebels trailed the UCF Knights 21-0 at the SJB Pavilion.

No, that's not a football score. The Rebels were held to zero points through the first seven minutes of basketball play against the Knights, and, despite a late comeback attempt, ultimately fell 72-61.

The Rebels' scoring drought in the first half was broken by a three from Matthew Murrell who led the team in scoring with 21 points. Josh Mballa followed with 18 points, and Malique Ewin dropped 10. As a team, Ole Miss shot 44 percent from the field and 33 percent from three, but its early deficit proved to be the difference in the loss.

The Rebels committed 15 turnovers on Wednesday compared to UCF's 11, and 18 of the Knights' points came off of Ole Miss turnovers. Also of note is that Rebels point guard Daeshun Ruffin, still fighting back from an early-season injury, saw 18 minutes of action in the loss, scoring two points.

The Rebels now sit at 7-3 on the season and will welcome the Temple Owls to Oxford on Saturday. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. CT on SEC Network.

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You can follow John Macon on Twitter at @JMakeGillespie.

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